It's hard to believe that it's been
a year and half since I went to
Den Haan & Wagenmakers
in Amsterdam.
It was a wonderful shop to visit.
I treated myself to a kit.
and started sewing it earlier this year.
I substituted lots of other Dutch Heritage
fabrics into the pattern.
Well, I got the top finished earlier this spring
and finally had opportunity to get it quilted by
one of my favorite local machine quilters, Debi R.
All the quilting has brought it to life.
So much color and pattern.
So much texture.
I was initially concerned that stitching over
the big chintz pattern would be distracting and
take away from the beauty of the fabric.
But I was very happy how those large squares looked.
The border was the same wonderful complicated fabric, but
even using a feather design it worked out beautifully.
You might have noticed that I didn't add a
tradition binding, but rather finished the edge in
the traditional Dutch way.
This method involves sewing strips of fabrics together,
then sewing them to the front of the quilt
and bringing it the the back of the quilt
where it's hand stitched in place.
In essence, it's creating a facing to finish the edge.
It's a very clean and sharp finish.
There are many tutorials online to get the specifics.
I used the same backing fabric so you can barely see it.
I finally got to use this special label
that I had been saving.
It includes the names of the wonderful quilters
I traveled with and those that I had the privilege to meet
along the way.
I am so happy to have this quilt finished.
The pattern name was called Clafoutis,
which is a classic French dessert that
combines fresh cherries in a rich dense custard.
So obviously, to celebrate
I made a cherry clafoutis.
Both the dessert and my quilt
turned out perfect.
Hope you agree.
Until Next Time-
Kyle
